At the foot of Montjuïc, on the coast of Barcelona, Spain, visitors can find the Jardins de Mossèn Costa i Llobera (Carretera de Miramar, 38, Sants-Montjuïc, Barcelona), a public garden specializing in cactuses and other succulents from around the world. Around 800 species grow in the garden’s 7.8 acres, which overlook the Mediterranean.
The park is open daily, 10 a.m.-9 p.m., April 1-Oct. 31, and 10-7, Nov. 1-March 31. Entry is free.
Visitors to Red Bay National Historic Site, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Canada’s Labrador province, can book hour-long tours with a park ranger to the 16th-century Basque whaling outpost there.
“If These Bones Could Talk” takes visitors along the beach through the skeletal remains of the harvested whales. A second tour, “Digging Through Time,” goes by boat to Saddle Island to the former whale-oil-processing area and other archaeological sites.
The Greenland GPS app, available for free for Apple and Android, contains maps and trail guides for the 160-kilometer Arctic Circle Trail (between Kangerlussuaq airport and the town of Sisimiut on the west coast, with lakes, fjords and 300- to 1,000-meter-high mountains) and for trails in the South Greenland Trails area (between the airport at Narsarsuaq and the town of Narsaq, ranging from flat fields to 1,700-meter peaks and featuring Viking ruins).
Off the coast of New Zealand’s South Island, visitors can paddle up close to fur seals on a “Guided Seal Kayaking Half Day Experience” with Kaikoura Kayaks (19 Killarney St., Kaikoura; phone +64 21 462 889, kaikourakayaks.nz). Kayakers also may see blue penguins, dusky dolphins and, possibly, whales.
The 3- to 3½-hour tour is offered multiple times daily throughout the year. NZD110 (near $71) per adult and NZD70 per child 12 and under. Single and double kayaks are available.
Visitors can learn the art of making chocolate in numerous workshops (each offered in English) at the headquarters of Swiss chocolatier Cailler (Rue Jules Bellet 7, Broc, Fribourg, Switzerland; phone +41 26 921 59 60).
In the 3-hour “Bean to Bar” workshop (CHF77 [near $80]), participants learn the entire process, from roasting beans to tempering the liquid chocolate, each forming their own bar. A 3-hour “Truffles” class (CHF77) works with dark, milk and white chocolate. A 1-hour “Future chocolatiers” class (CHF25) is for children age 6 to 12.
The “Jing-Zhang” high-speed rail system, with trains reaching speeds of up to 217 mph, began operation in northeastern China on Dec. 30. Traveling 108 miles between Beijing and Zhangjiakou (two cities that will be hosting Winter Olympics events in 2022), the train makes 10 stops, with a total travel time of 47 minutes.
With United Airlines’ Gift Card Exchange, you can trade the value of unused gift cards for United MileagePlus miles. Only gift cards from approved retailers, including Target, Walmart and rival airlines American and Southwest, can be exchanged (a complete list is available online).
Each gift card must have a balance of at least $15, and multiple gift cards can be exchanged at one time. To qualify, you must have had a MileagePlus account for at least 90 days with no negative balance.
The makers of the Mobile Passport app (July ’19, pg. 13) have partnered with RushMyPassport (Sept. ’19 pgs. 2, 44) so that travelers now can use the app to renew their passports in as little as 24 hours.
American Airlines’ smartphone app now can scan the passports of international travelers when it is used for check-in, meaning travelers no longer have to show their passports to the airline’s customer service agent at the airport. This will be advantageous to those who are not checking any luggage and those who are catching a connecting international flight after a domestic flight.
The crown prince of Saudi Arabia announced on Dec. 10 that men and women now can eat together in restaurants. Before the decree, every restaurant, even fast-food restaurants, had different entrances for men and women, and, by law, the two genders were separated by, at the least, a screen. Even married couples with children were forced to eat apart. (According to some reports, many restaurants had been ignoring those restrictions.)